Week 28 felt very busy and there were some lovely, wild highlights. Everything really does look and feel so much better in the sunshine!
Let me give you a lil flavour of what I got up to – this week, I:
🦆 Explored a local nature reserve at sunset
✒️ Plotted out some local walks to prep for an August fundraising challenge
🦋 Encountered three beautiful moths
🌳 Started planning a forest watercolour
Full story below – enjoy!
Monday 19th July 2021
I think the main topic of conversation at work today revolved around the question ‘did anyone sleep last night?’ – the heat is getting to people!
Once the work day was done, my partner suggested that we go to a very small nature reserve about 7 miles away. It’s called Woodford Bottom and Lamb’s Pool and is managed by the Bucks, Berks and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust. We first explored this nature reserve during the lockdown last year and it’s so tucked away that it took us ages to work out where on earth it was.
To get there, you basically have to park in a teeny tiny lay-by on the country lane that goes past it. You then have to keep your eyes as peeled as you can bear in order to find the style to take you onto the path. Hardly anyone must come here. It’s a very special place – despite the inevitable nettle stings (I got two on my hand this time!)
This evening, with the golden hue of the sun setting behind the rolling fields, we walked down the track to the pool. The water was crystal clear and was very still – apart from some sudden movement amongst the reeds. I was expecting a moorhen or a duck to suddenly burst out, but, to our surprise, a fish leapt out of the water. I have absolutely no idea what type of fish it was but it weren’t no tiddler!
With this moment of drama over and done with (in a literal flash – or splash), the peace resumed. A song thrush chortled away somewhere nearby and a couple of small birds – possibly sandpipers – flew overhead. Once we got to the end of the pool, a heron suddenly took flight from the bank. It must’ve been watching us for a while but it didn’t give itself away until the last possible moment. Such a beautiful place.
Tuesday 20th July 2021
You know I just said the heat is getting to people? A colleague told me they’d resorted to sleeping on the bathroom floor. I mean. Too far surely?!
Anyhoo, today I decided to have a short peruse of the Rare Bird Alert twitter account and there was the most unbelievable photo on there – the now-famous black-browed albatross flying next to a puffin at Bempton Cliffs. The difference in size is just mind-blowing!
I heard this bird had decided to visit us a few weeks ago but I hadn’t really given it much more thought. So I googled the black-browed albatross to see where it might’ve come from and found this fantastic webpage on the Falklands Conservation site. I’m now really not sure how this impressive bird got here – it should be in the South Atlantic!
Wednesday 21st July 2021
6.30am. Not an unreasonable time to get up – though I know a few people who would disagree with me! – and, this morning, I decided it would be the perfect time to go out for a stroll. Much better than the midday humidity!
It was quite an important walk as well. It was one of my practice walks for a fundraising challenge that I’m going to be doing in August. Earlier in the year, my grandad sadly passed away after battling Parkinson’s Disease for a number of years. I decided I wanted to raise money for Parkinson’s UK in his memory so that more people can get the treatment and support they need to cope with this disease.
My challenge is to walk 200 miles over the month. About 6.5 miles per day. On many days, this’ll be reasonably straightforward. But, during the first week, this is going to be flipping tough. I’m co-leading an online summer school so it’s going to be long, LONG days in front of the laptop screen. So very early walks, along with evening strolls, are going to be essential. And I best get ready for them! You can find my JustGiving page here if you’d like to read more: Emily’s Walk for Grandad.
Thursday 22nd July 2021
Lesser yellow underwing 
Puss moth 
Magpie moth
I need to talk about moths today. I never knew how beautiful they could be until recently. And now I’m absolutely fascinated by them.
I knew already that there are more moths than butterflies out there but I didn’t realise moths could be a) so big, b) so colourful or c) so interesting. And, this week, I’ve seen a total of three amazing moths in my garden – all of them absolute beasts!
We were first visited by the lesser yellow underwing. I like to think I’m quite good at working out different birds from one another from memory but I have to confess that technology helped with identifying the moths – I wouldn’t have known where to start! So an app told me it was a lesser yellow underwing and another individual from this species (let’s say his cousin) actually landed on my leg while I walked up the road in the twilight.
Next up was the puss moth. I found this poor thing on the patio and was worried one of the cats might get it. It didn’t look too good so I picked it up and put it in a hanging basket. Next morning, I checked on it and it still looked on its last legs. I tried to give it a nectar solution (don’t laugh!) but it sadly died later in the afternoon. Despite my efforts, it’s likely that this moth was nearing the end of its life in any case – they only fly for one season, from May until July.
Finally – and this is the moth I spotted this evening – we were visited by a magpie moth. Again, I’d never heard of this moth. Just look how butterfly-like it is!
Friday 23rd July 2021
I’m reading a new book called Rewild Yourself by Simon Barnes. The chapters are short and the text is large (my ideal book!) and Barnes’ aim is to impart some nuggets of wisdom to his readers to help them embrace the natural world. Today, this nugget focused on ‘animal highways’.
It can get frustrating sometimes if you’re out and about and you don’t see any animals around. But his point here is that there are other things you can look out for that can give you a sign of what’s about – like the trails that animals leave and the tunnels or pathways they frequent. We must all walk past these all the time without realising. I’ll try to make sure I look out for them next time I’m out!
Saturday 24th July 2021
Today felt a bit weird. I was waiting for the rain to come all day and, despite the threat of stormy weather, it never came. So I felt a bit like I’d stayed inside all day for no reason at all.
I was a little bit productive though – I started by building an art desk that my partner bought me for my birthday. I absolutely hate building flat-pack furniture (and I’m hopeless at it), but, against all the odds, I managed to build it and it hasn’t fallen apart yet.
I thought it would’ve been rude not to use it and I have a couple of small projects for family and friends at the moment, along with a couple of pieces to finish and a very long list of things I’d still like to paint or draw. So I got cracking with some ideas for one of them – a forest scene. Not sure exactly where I’m going to go with this yet, but I enjoyed having a play around with the colours.
Sunday 25th July 2021
“When life comes adrift, garden time can get you going again” – wise words from Sue Stuart-Smith in her book. Yep, I still haven’t finished The Well Gardened Mind…!
For ‘frequent readers’ of my blog, you’ll have seen me comment on the book a number of times and, though I’ve enjoyed reading her wise words, up until today I hadn’t really put an awful lot into practice. Yes I’ve pottered around with the occasional plant. But, in truth, I’ve let the garden go. So I started to give it a good old tidy up this morning. I’m slightly concerned I may have exposed a cocoon with my tidying. Or is it just part of the tree? If it isn’t a cocoon, I really don’t know what it is. I’ll keep you posted!
*For anyone new to my blog, let me explain a bit more about what these posts are about. Every week I share a summary of my daily ‘acts of wildness’. This wildlife challenge was inspired by ’30 Days Wild’ and ’12 Days Wild’ from The Wildlife Trusts. The ‘356’ isn’t a typo – typically, I only thought about doing this after 2021 had already started so I won’t be able to do a full year this time. Next year will be different though! Thank you and I hope you’ve enjoyed the post!
Ramblings of a (very!) amateur artist 